African power utilities adapt to rising renewable energy

April 15, 2025

South Africa's national power utility Eskom is inviting bids to establish a specialised business unit to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy solutions. The chosen company will provide services for one year. The subsidiary will operate independently from Eskom for better market positioning and enhanced Public-Private Partnerships.

  • The shift to renewables across Africa is happening at a faster rate than legacy firms realised. National utility companies that have long relied on fossil fuels are finding it hard to compete with renewables. Some are opting to join in.

  • Eskom's move follows Kenya's utility provider, Kenya Power, which plans to venture into residential solar, and KenGen, also Kenyan, which plans to enter captive power generation for commercial and industrial (C&I) customers.

  • Our take: African national power utilities have an opportunity to revive their business models and align with renewables to cater for growing demand… Read more (2 min)

Fuel prices for April increased in Nigeria and Egypt and decreased in Kenya and South Africa. The prices in Egypt for petrol, diesel, and other energy products went up by up to about 15%, the fourth such increase since March 2024 and the first this year. This is according to a Renewables Rising database that tracks electricity and fuel prices in Africa.

  • Egypt's price hikes come just weeks after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a fresh $1.2 billion disbursement to Egypt, following the fourth review of the country’s economic reform programme.

  • In Nigeria, fuel prices increased even after the new Dangote Refinery boosted domestic supply. South Africa saw the most significant decline in diesel price by $0.05 per litre. Electricity prices remained unchanged in South Africa and Nigeria but had very minimal changes in Kenya and Egypt, with an increase of $0.001 per kilowatt hour.

  • Our take: African countries should continue to cut fossil fuel subsidies to grow their renewables sectors… Read more (2 min)

African leaders must firmly embrace renewables and not fall for Trump's pro-coal campaign, says  Mohamed Adow, Founder of Power Shift Africa. In this opinion article, he cautions that coal, despite being framed as cheap, is economically perilous, risking a 64% GDP loss for African nations by 2100 due to climate costs and stranded fossil fuel investments.

  • Africa is at a critical juncture in renewable energy infrastructure. Given the progress the continent has been making, renewables could supply 67% of power by 2030. Scaling back coal could significantly set back this progress and change Africa’s energy independence trajectory for the worse.

  • Mohamed Adow is a climate policy expert focused on the developing nations that are disproportionately impacted by climate change. His advocacy for Africa’s renewable transition stems from 20+ years of work linking climate justice to equitable development.

  • Get the full opinion article here.

Malawi power utility delegation visits Eskom’s battery site in Worcester, South Africa

Events

🗓️ Attend an event about the energy transition and the youth (Apr 16)

🗓️ Join engineers in a webinar on accelerating digital transformation (May 7) 

🗓️ Sign up  for the Invest In African Energy Event (May 13)

Jobs

💼 Become Schneider Electric’s Regional SCP Manager (Egypt)

👷 Lead project management operations at AltGen (South Africa)

👩🏻‍💼 Join The Nature Conservancy as a Country Director (Gabon)

Various 

♻️ Apply for the  Energy for Green Growth and Sustainability in Kenya programme

💰 Arnergy to expand solar in Nigeria with $18m

⚡ Aces Renewables advances 268 MW of solar, biomass projects in Africa

Seen on LinkedIn 

Swati Vyas, Guest Lecturer at Engineering College Bikaner, says, “There’s a strong historical correlation between energy use and GDP growth. But moving forward, energy efficiency, access to clean energy, and smart infrastructure investment will be the true growth catalysts, especially for low-consumption nations.”